In a city of more than 300,000 with six school districts and a handful of private schools, transfers will happen as high school students have options.

Justen Evans experienced it first hand when he arrived at Miller.

The Buccaneers had long had difficulty keeping athletes from its feeder, Driscoll.

"You can’t control when kids move," Evans said. "We just want our kids. For a long time, our Miller kids were going to other schools. They were transferring. We were losing a lot of kids. Our kids are coming home.

"Their addresses never left, but we are happy that they are coming back to their home school and wanting to be here. That is a big deal for us. We want the kids in our attendance zone to be Bucs."

Miller will suit up new football players this season, as one of many schools that were impacted by moves since the 2017 ended.

Part of the transfer process of a student looking for varsity eligibility at another school is for the former coach to sign a PAPF (Previous Athletic Participation Form) required by the University Interscholastic League. If a form is not signed, an athlete will have to go before the district executive committee that examines the athlete's transfer.

Typically, a meeting of the district's principals is held that look into the transfer and can either approve or deny an athlete's varsity eligibility. A school and athlete can appeal a decision all the way to the UIL's State Executive Committee, where a final ruling will take place.

Corpus Christi ISD Senior Director of Athletics Brenda Marshall said movement this year is normal when compared to the last five years.

"There are transfers in this city, whether it is our district to another or from another district to our schools," Marshall said. "I would say for the last five years we've had a lot of transfers in and out of various schools. It isn't just this year."

Among the most notable transfer players is Austin Ochoa, who last season was named the All-South Texas Newcomer of the Year after his sophomore season quarterbacking Gregory-Portland.

Ochoa returned to Refugio for family reasons and will play for the Class 2A No. 1-ranked Bobcats this fall as he was recently approved by the District 16-2A Division I executive committee.

"He is a really good kid. He is a good football player and I am glad it worked out for him," Herring said about the DEC decision.

With freshman Jordan Kelley earning the starting quarterback job for the Bobcats, Herring said Ochoa, a junior, will play receiver and linebacker.

"These are all of his lifelong friends," Herring said. "He went to school here through fourth grade. He grew up with all these kids. It was an easy transition because he is from here. We've known the family for a long time. I coached his older brother. It isn't like a total stranger coming in."

Jeremiah Earls, who played running back as a freshman at Carroll, is now on Calallen's football team.(Photo: Charlie Blalock/ Corpus Christi Hooks)

Marlon Crockett, who played receiver for Miller as a freshman, will play for G-P this fall.

Evans said several players from other CCISD campuses, and even out of state, are now in his program.

Dadrian Johnson and Demetrius Porter, both who played for Carroll last season, are on the Miller roster this fall, along with players from Ray and defensive lineman Manuel Lozano, who played at Moody in 2017.

Evans said once he was hired at Miller, he made a point to go to the middle school campus and build relationships.

"We really targeted Driscoll when I got here last year," Evans said. "We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose from Driscoll. That is where it starts with us — building relationships with those kids from Driscoll. Once they get here, we love them and coach them hard and make sure they don’t leave here."

Evans said in many cases, the athletes that have been coming to Miller are returning to the campus in their home attendance zone.

Two names on the Calallen roster were on CCISD campuses a season ago as Jarrett Garza and Jeremiah Earls are now playing for the Wildcats.

Buy Photo

Jarrett Garza is on Calallen's roster this fall, following in the footsteps of his father Gabe, who started four years for the Wildcats in the 1990s.(Photo: Gabe Hernandez/Caller-Times)

Garza played at Ray as a freshman and sophomore and was part of the Texans' state qualifying 1,600-meter relay team in track. He follows in his father Gabe's footsteps, a four-year two-way starter for Phil Danaher and Calallen in the 1990s.

Earls saw action at running back as a freshman at Carroll.

Another player from the Tigers' 2017 backfield, DeQuaashie Lindsey, is on John Paul II's roster as the Centurions try to return to the postseason.

Marshall said when Veterans Memorial opened its doors in 2015, that the district saw an influx of South Side students that had returned to CCISD, from Flour Bluff, London and other area districts.

As part of ensuring everything is valid, Marshall said the district can conduct surprise home visits to make sure the student is living in the attendance zone which he or she is claiming to.

"In years past, we've done visits and we found out that students weren't living in the address they put down," Marshall said.

"The worse thing is not to do our due diligence in making sure that a child has transferred properly. A team could be declared ineligible and we would never want the whole team to suffer. It has happened here and across the state. You never want it to affect a whole team when it wasn't the other students fault."